Mark 13:1-23Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)Destruction of the Temple Predicted13 As He was going out of the temple complex, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, look! What massive stones! What impressive buildings!”
² Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down!”
Signs of the End of the Age³ While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the temple complex, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when all these things are about to take place?”
⁵ Then Jesus began by telling them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and they will deceive many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed; these things must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines.^[a] These are the beginning of birth pains.
Persecutions Predicted⁹ “But you, be on your guard! They will hand you over to sanhedrins,^[a]and you will be flogged in the synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings because of Me, as a witness to them. ¹⁰ And the good news^[b] must first be proclaimed to all nations. ¹¹ So when they arrest you and hand you over, don’t worry beforehand what you will say. On the contrary, whatever is given to you in that hour—say it. For it isn’t you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² Then brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and put them to death. ¹³ And you will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.^[c]The Great Tribulation¹⁴ “When you see the abomination that causes desolation^[d] standing where it should not” (let the reader understand^[e]), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains! ¹⁵ A man on the housetop must not come down or go in to get anything out of his house. ¹⁶ And a man in the field must not go back to get his clothes. ¹⁷ Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days! ¹⁸ Pray it^[f] won’t happen in winter. ¹⁹ For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of the world,^[g] which God created, until now and never will be again! ²⁰ Unless the Lord limited those days, no one would survive.^[h] But He limited those days because of the elect, whom He chose.
²¹ “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah! Look—there!’ do not believe it! ²² For false messiahs^[i] and false prophets will rise up and will perform signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, the elect.²³ And you must watch! I have told you everything in advance.
Questions:1.       What does Jesus mean when he says all the stones will be thrown down?
A.     He means that all these great building that look impressive and look indestructible will all be coming down someday. That mass destruction is going to come.
2.      If you were one of the disciples wouldn’t you want to know when all these things would happen, or would you want to be in the dark?
A.     ???
3.      Jesus talks about people coming in His name.  What does that mean?
A.     Jesus is warning His disciples that people will ask like Jesus, or predict the end times like a prophet, but that these people are false.  Jesus makes it clear that you will know when He is coming, not a false teacher.
4.      How does Jesus tell us to be on guard?
A.     He says to be prepared for anything, to be prepared for people to hurt you, to question you, to kill you because you follow Jesus.  He tells them to not worry because the Holy Spirit will fill you and give you the words to say at the right time.  During the end times people will be acting in uncaring ways, and His people need to endure and continue to love the Lord.  We must be examples to everyone no matter what the condition.
5.      The end times will not be fun, what does Jesus tell his disciples about the end times?
A.      He tells them that they need to be ready.  That is certain cases it will be much harder for you to survive if it is winter, or you are pregnant, or you forget something in your house.  He says to just run, get away.
6.      Jesus wants us to be aware of false teachers or people who choose to believe in false teachers.  It is our job to read the Bible and understand what Jesus says, not some random person acting like Jesus.